This course introduces students to the social history of key Latin musical styles including rumba, tango, samba, son, and salsa. A major part of the class is listening to music (and occasionally even playing or dancing to it). Yet as students learn to be sophisticated listeners, they also become good historians. Students consider how “Latin” musics emerged from the encounter between African and European societies in the context of slavery and colonialism. They learn how the musical styles of black and brown Latin Americans evolved into key symbols of national identity. They will see how Latin music was harvested and repackaged in Hollywood for "mainstream" American audiences. And they will learn how the same music was adopted and remade by Latino communities living inside the United States and by musicians in the cities of Africa in the last half of the twentieth century.

Syllabi are available to current LSA students. IMPORTANT: These syllabi are provided to give students a general idea about the courses, as offered by LSA departments and programs in prior academic terms. The syllabi do not necessarily reflect the assignments, sequence of course materials, and/or course expectations that the faculty and departments/programs have for these same courses in the current and/or future terms.